David Cameron’s aides have branded Tory rebels “s***s” as his party was thrown back into the kind of bitter infighting over Europe last seen under John Major.

David Cameron’s aides have branded Tory rebels “s***s” as his party was thrown back into the kind of bitter infighting over Europe last seen under John Major.

The term, which echoes Mr Major describing anti-EU members of his cabinet as “b******s in the 90s, fits up to 40 of his own MPs, the Spectator magazine revealed after the 81-strong mutiny on a EU referendum.

Former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore suggested two Cabinet ministers were close to ­quitting in a move that could have toppled the Government.